Certain components of brakes have a usable life, following which they must be replaced. Brake pads and brake shoes include friction material which progressively wears away as the brake is used. Electromechanical wear sensors are known which can determine the amount of friction material wear and provide an indication to an operator that the brake pads or shoes require replacement. Also certain components of brakes have a fatigue life. Components made from certain materials (for example steel) to which a load is repeatedly applied and then released can “fatigue” whereby fatigue cracks develop within the component. There comes a point when the fatigue cracks are sufficiently large that the component may fail completely and break apart.
Maintenance cycles and an expected useful life for components of a braking system are generally tested and specified based upon components of a known quality and known materials. Performance and automatic adjustment of braking systems may also be calibrated and specified based upon known characteristics of components installed in a braking system. Replacement of replaceable components in a braking system with components of a different specification, lower strength, faster wear characteristic, or different resilience to braking forces can therefore adversely affect the performance and useful life of a braking system. It is therefore important to ensure that when replaceable components of a braking system are replaced, they are replaced with suitable replacement parts which meet the design specifications of the braking system as specified by the manufacturer of the braking system. The present invention sets out to address these problems.